Paradise found!

The first impression of French Polynesia, seeing it for the first time, was amazement at the colors. I couldn't believe how turquoise-blue green the water was, my favorite color in the 64-pack Crayola crayon box. The plants were intensely green and the air perfect in temperature for framing this color saturated landscape.

We touched down in Papeete at 5 in the morning, flying by Tahiti island which I thought resembled a mini Oahu: both volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, sharp and coarse peaks to vegetation carpeted peaks, white surf outlining the where beach met sea.

A Polynesian dancer accompanied by two typical, almost stereotypical, musicians welcomed us with song the moment we entered the airport. Next was to be a lot of waiting. We waited in line for immigration to process us newcomers, then for Shannon to go to the bathroom. Customs turned out to be more straight forward than I thought. I asked an officer if I had to declare our food, and being all dry and not fresh, we didn't have to. He told us to go to the "Rien a declarer" line where I impressed Shannon by answering his interrogation all in French. I was surprised that the usual questions like amount of alcohol and food weren't asked neither on the immigration card nor by the officer. I think they're main concern is catching people who want to permanently stay in the country. "Do you have family and friends here? What is the purpose of your trip?" and on the card, "Do you intend to find work here?"

We were timed perfectly to wait in another line to check into Air Tahiti for Raiatea. Our luggage just made the 20kg cut off since we redistributed a sack of popcorn and trail mixes to our carry ons.  Taking our one liter bottle of Baileys as carry on was not a problem.

Through the airplane windows, we caught our first glimpses of the famous reef surrounded islands, blue lagoons and motus. Our hotel Le Tahaa had its own welcome desk at the airport and without delay we were boarded on their motor boat shuttle to the resort.

At the pier, we were given leis and welcomed with a drink at the reception while they took our information. Our hostess then gave us a tour of the resort including the breakfast buffet, fantasy spa rooms, a grass tennis court, and massage tables over the water where one could really go over the top.

Then came our room. We walked up the bridge to room number 25 where Shannon couldn't believe what she saw. A private deck overlooked Tahaa island and the pier. Stairs led down to another deck at water level for swimming, and where room service could be delivered by canoe if so desired. The room was absolutely gorgeous with flowers strewn over the king bed looking out to the water, his and hers sinks, and these windows down through the floors, one at the foot of the bed and another beside the tub, where underneath lights illuminated the water attracting fish.

Up until this point, Shannon thought everything might have been like Thailand, the crystal clear water, fine sand and palms. But now we understood why a place like this charged up to a thousand bucks a night. At about $450, even I thought it was an incredible steal. Thank you Groupon!

Oh the life! "This is what I deserve!" Shannon quips. We spotted the beach where we thought the Bachelorette Ali sat distraught over Frank blindsiding her and leaving back to his ex-girlfriend in New York.

We spent the rest of the day stunned a how beautiful everything was, reading and napping on the deck, exploring chest deep waters and looking underneath our bungalow.

Because there wasn't anything to eat except the hotel restaurant, our food today consisted entirety of instant noodles (a kettle came with the bungalow), trail mix and protein bars. By doing that, we saved $300, as half-board for the next two days came in at a shocking $130 per person per day for a buffet breakfast and a three course dinner. Mini bar prices listed pop at $6 (500 CFP), a bag of chips at 350 CFP, ad 375mL of champagne for 7500 CFP. Internet purchased per hour was same as the can of pop.

In the evening, we walked down the beach to bungalow 49 where our hostess informed us had a nice view of the sunset behind Bora Bora. The resort had about 12 beach bungalows and I'm guessing 30 over the water bungalows. We stayed at the cheapest bungalow category facing north with a view of Tahaa. The most expensive is the Bora Bora view. Shannon and I discovered one of the Bora Bora bungalows doors open and unoccupied with sheet covering the furniture inside the room. We took advantage of this enjoying the sunset from the bungalow dock.